• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Hamilton, Pistons continue home dominance of Raptors

Jan 16, 2008 - 4:31 AM AUBURN HILLS, Michigan (Ticker) -- Richard Hamilton poured in a season-high 39 points as the Detroit Pistons continued their dominance of the Toronto Raptors with Tuesday's 103-89 victory.

Chauncey Billups scored 20 points and Antonio McDyess added nine, 13 rebounds and a career-best seven steals in helping the Pistons earn their ninth consecutive home win over the Raptors.

"Dyess was huge in this game," Billups said. "I mean, you look at what he did with seven steals, 13 boards, blocked shots, he played great."

Hamilton connected on 16-of-22 shots, including 5-of-6 from the arc, to bounce back from his dismal three-point performance in Sunday's setback to the lowly New York Knicks.

"I had a lot of wide-open looks but I didn't really take a lot of shots in New York," Hamilton said. "The ones that I missed I usually make. Tonight, I just said, 'They're going to fall.'"

"Rip was great. He moved well without the ball and guys found him," Pistons coach Flip Saunders said. "You could tell he had more pop in his step."

With just a one-point lead at the break, Detroit took control in the third quarter as the 1-2 combination of Hamilton and Billups combined for 20 points in the period to forge a 77-65 edge heading into the fourth.

"They didn't miss any shots," Toronto forward Chris Bosh said. "We did and they didn't. They went to Rip all night, and we didn't do a very good job of making him take contested jump shots."

"We tried to go small and they just had too much for us," Raptors coach Sam Mitchell said. "Rip Hamilton had a spectacular game and they just beat us."

Rookie Jamario Moon's 21-foot jumper helped the Raptors close within 86-77 with 6:35 remaining. But the Pistons pulled away for good with an impressive 11-3 surge to seal the deal.

Besides shooting a blistering 50 percent (38-of-76) from the field, Detroit also supplied stellar defense as it held Toronto to under 20 points in the first and third quarters.

"It was a good game for us. We feel good about how the game went," Billups said. "They made a run when they went small and they hurt us a little bit in that second quarter, but other than that, we were ready for it when we came back with it in the third quarter and made those adjustments. It was a good game."

Bosh had 16 points and 11 boards and Jason Kapono and former Piston Carlos Delfino scored 14 each for Toronto, which watched its three-game winning streak come to an end.